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Low budget wedding

wrdgirlwrdgirl member
500 Comments
in Connecticut
Hi everyone!

I'm new to this board but have been on this site for a couple of weeks now.  I'm in the initial stages of planning and no set date yet but most likely April or May of next year.

I am just wondering if there is anyone out there that managed to do a wedding at under 10k in CT?  I believe that it is possible for a small sized wedding, one just has to be creative.  I was a bit overwhelmed by how much people are paying when I went through the boards so I am hoping that I can find someone who actually did budget the wedding in the under 10K range.

Thanks!
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Re: Low budget wedding

  • KellyJayDKellyJayD
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Yes it is definitely doable if you keep your guest list down. Another thing for me that is keeping cost down is getting married on a Sunday or other people do Fridays. I know it's uncommon but usually cheaper. Girls here also do a lot of DIY with invites, cardboxes etc. You can do it :)
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  • herb0622herb0622 member
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    It's definitely possible. One of my BM got married 2 years ago and her wedding cost roughly $8500. She limited her guest list (around 90) and  did a lot of DIY projects. We still had a great time even though it was a smaller wedding.

     Good luck and happy planning :)
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  • Vikki2payVikki2pay member
    Sixth Anniversary 1000 Comments Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    Some places have off season prices if you book in early april, so you may get lucky
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  • wrdgirlwrdgirl member
    500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Thanks very much guys! :)
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  • akulajiakulaji
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Yes, I agree with the girls... it's possible, but you'll definitely need to keep your guest list small, and I think doing it off season is key.  We're doing a Sunday wedding, but it's in May, so we not absolutely no discounts for it being a Sunday.  We also did not choose a banquet facility, so that may be part of the reason.  Our venue is a historical site, so we just rent the venue and bring in all of our vendors.  That has definitely proved to be way more expensive than going to an all in one type of place.  Doing lots of DIY definitely helps.

    My number one suggestion is to create a budget and stick to it.  We had really wanted to keep the cost low too, but it's soooooo easy for the budget to go the way of all good things if you think you can go past the numbers a little. Suddenly you've done it with every single things and the cost is way way more.

    Good luck!
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  • ZoeTheDogZoeTheDog
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I didn't know it was possible...not in Fairfield County anyway LOL.  Why didn't anyone share this with me earlier!?! !?
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  • MaureenandCarmineMaureenandCarmine member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'm currently planning a wedding for July and it is definately going to be under $10,000. I really want a casual wedding, and white sundresses and bbq food just don't cost as much as ballgowns and elaborate catering.
    I would suggest that you also look at your priorities for not just where you can cut corners but also what is important to you. My biggest priority is that our entire enormous family is there so we are having a huge wedding, but not a fancy one.
    We have also found that our friends and family want to help and that cuts down on what we have to spend. One of our friends is a legit pastry chef, so she is making our cake as her gift to us. Another friend is an illustrator and she is making our incredible invites. I'm sure that your close friends and family want  to do things for you too. I never realized how many talented people I knew before I was planning this.
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  • starrbuk13starrbuk13 member
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    DEFINITELY possible.  I'm living proof.  Our wedding, excluding our rings and honeymoon, was less than $12,000.  And I know that's more than $10k, but we spent $3500 alone on our photographer.  So if we'd chosen a cheaper vendor, we would've made less than $10k.  (we could've cut other corners, too, to make it even less)

    overall, we just kept things very very casual.  our goal was "party", not "typical wedding reception."  you aren't going to throw a black tie affair for under $10k unless you're inviting like, 20 people, but you can definitely have a nice, stylish, FUN wedding.  just pick what is most important to you, don't compromise it, and cut the stuff out that you don't really need or care about.  (for example, we knew we wanted an open bar and realllly good food.  so we spent about $5,000 on food/drink.  pictures were another big thing, so we splurged on that.)

    the things we did to keep it cheap:
    we only had 50 people
    DIY invites
    we played an ipod during the reception
    we didn't have a limo for the BP 
    we chose a non-traditional venue, so the site fee was cheap and we got to bring in all our own vendors.
    we bought our own alcohol from the liquor store and had the caterer just serve it.
    i got my gown at a sample sale for $250

    i'd be happy to give you more details on our budget it you want...i'm kind of proud of the wedding i did on the budget i had!  you can definitely do it though, good luck and happy planning :)
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  • Karebear852k3Karebear852k3
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    It is definitely possible I think (I'm hoping I don't jinx myself and go way over budget).  My fiance and I are planning a June 2011 wedding and because we are paying for ourselves we are hoping to keep it super cheap (definitely under 10k, we are thinking like 8k maybe)

    Things we are doing to keep it cheap:

    *Small guest list (50 people tops)
    Because of the small guest list, we had to find a vendor who would accomodate us because most of the vendors in CT have like a 100 person minimum so they can make their money.  Therefore...
    *Venue: we found a venue that was everything we wanted.  It's not going to be a huge ballroom since we are keeping it small, but we are going to have an intimate dinner at this restaurant (catering included!) with music of course since me and my fiance are not much for dancing anyway.  I had to sacrifice my outdoor ceremony, but it is worth it because this place allows us to have the ceremony onsite for no extra charge, but it is on the water and requires an evening wedding so I can have my sunset/water photos taken :)  They pretty much allow us to do whatever we want with the menu as long as we hit a $900 minimum with the food bill (which we will) and the per-person cost is under $75 :)
    *DJ/music: our friend owns a stage production company, and he did the same thing for our friend's wedding last summer, but we are just going to ask him if we can rent the equipment and hire him to run it with my iPod on it for the music and have him sort of DJ it up for the night
    *Honeymoon registry....since FI and I live together already, we don't need a lot of household items to clutter up our house, so we are going to register for our honeymoon instead
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  • wrdgirlwrdgirl member
    500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Wow, thanks guys!!  I really appreciate the feedback!!!  They have helped me feel less overwhelmed.

    Actually a lot of the stuff that are listed on here are what I am planning on doing I am just a little scared that it may not be as it seems.  We do have a budget but because we don't know what the price is for a lot of things out there and after some researching the numbers just keep growing!

    We're trying to budget a $7000 wedding and the more we researched the more we see the numbers are adding up too fast LOL  I have a few ideas on where to save but because the cost varies in a wide range it's kind of hard to determine which one is over priced and which isn't.

    But this is reassuring and not as scary as I originally thought :D

    Did any of you negotiate a lot with your vendors?  And did any of you employ a DOC on the day of? 
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  • ZoeTheDogZoeTheDog
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Definitely do NOT waste the money on a DOC if you are only having a 50 person wedding!!!! 

    I negotiated with my photog...I said this is what you're getting so what will you be doing for me that day?  LOL
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  • starrbuk13starrbuk13 member
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    ditto PP, don't bother with a DOC if you're keeping it small.  you'd be surprised how many venues/vendors will step in and almost act like one for free!  (the manager at my venue did that...it was completely unexpected and wonderful!)

    and my caterer worked with that we told her we could spend.  we knew we wanted it under $50 a head for the food, so that's what she gave us.
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  • MsSunshineMsSunshine
    Eighth Anniversary 100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    My sister-in-law got married a couple of years ago. It wasn't fancy but her wedding budget was $3,000 and had about 100 guests. She lives here in West Haven and rented out a hall for $500 for 8 hours. Not sure how much she spent on the catering, photographer, and deejay. Her friend helped decorate the hall and she had her ceremony in the same room. She purchased $300 worth of liquor in New Hampshire because they don't tax and hired a bartender (a friend of a friend). She didn't go all out because of her budget but it was nice and we had fun! :)

    I'm also on a tight budget it's best to just have a wedding on a friday, sunday, or off season. Or, you can check out restaurants to see what they will offer you. I also heard that it can be cheaper if you were to have it on a saturday morning. Other ways to keep it under is to DIY on your invitations, floral bouquets, ceremony decoration, and centerpieces. Maybe you can look into buying your flowers at a wholesale place or online.
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  • sunflower1986sunflower1986
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Hey! I'm planning our wedding for this October, and our budget is around $8,000.
    The biggest places I saved was my dress and venue. We are having a saturday wedding but opted for a sit-down lunch instead of dinner. This saved $30 per person, but still is the same food (yay!) We also were able to break down the package and get rid of the extras we didnt need or would DIY.
    I found my dress at the Aqua Turf bridal show...I didnt even know that the were going to be having a mini 'tent' sale but I found a beautiful dress that would have been $1500 (still budget) for $150, so I grabbed it :)
    Anyways, its totally doable, as long as you are willing to look and research...

    Good Luck!!
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